The Latest: Leader of NY group charged with child porn

NEW YORK (AP) - The Latest on the New York sex slave case (all times local):

6:10 p.m.

The leader of an embattled upstate New York self-help organization has been hit with child pornography charges.

Federal prosecutors announced the new charges against Keith Raniere on Wednesday.

Raniere was arrested last year in a sex-trafficking investigation of his Albany-based NXIVM group. Prosecutors say a secret society within the organization branded women with his initials and forced them to have sex with him.

Earlier Wednesday, group co-founder Nancy Salzman pleaded guilty to conspiracy during a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday.

FILE - In this Jan. 28, 2019 file photo, Nancy Salzman arrives to Brooklyn federal court in New York. Salzman, a co-founder of an embattled upstate New York self-help organization is expected to plead guilty in a case featuring sensational claims that some followers became branded sex slaves. Salzman is due in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday, March 13 for a plea hearing. There was no response to a request for comment from one of her lawyers. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)

Raniere is set to go on trial next month. Also charged in the case are Salzman's daughter as well as Seagram liquor fortune heiress Clare Bronfman and TV actress Allison Mack.

There was no immediate response from Raniere's lawyer on Wednesday.

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4 p.m.

A co-founder of an embattled upstate New York self-help organization has pleaded guilty in a case featuring sensational claims that some followers became branded sex slaves.

Nancy Salzman pleaded guilty to conspiracy during a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday. She's to be sentenced on July 10. There was no immediate response from her lawyer.

Salzman was a co-founder of NXIVM, a cult-like group based near Albany. Prosecutors say a secret society within the organization branded women with a spiritual leader's initials and forced them to have sex with him.

The leader, Keith Raniere, is set to go on trial next month. Also charged in the case are Salzman's daughter as well as Seagram liquor fortune heiress Clare Bronfman and TV actress Allison Mack.